Posted on 08/18/2006 6:21:54 AM PDT by IrishMike
The American Civil Liberties Union may know how to craft a winning legal brief but it seems to be clueless when it comes to reading a newspaper. It has just succeeded in persuading a federal judge to block the National Security Agency's counter-terrorist wiretapping program exactly a week after — you guessed it — wiretapping helped British authorities bust up a terrorist plot. Whether or not the NSA was listening in on any of the London-related calls, and we may never know, the episode certainly does demonstrate the importance of such tapping. Good going, guys.
Yesterday's ruling follows the disclosure in December of an NSA program to listen in on calls between suspected terrorists abroad and those on American soil who might be communicating with them. The NSA has always had the green light to listen in on calls between two parties when both of them were overseas, and also to listen in to an America-to-abroad call from the abroad end of the line. The Bush administration's remarkable innovation was to start tapping those calls from the American end, as well as collecting data on calling patterns that would allow intelligence experts to spot suspect patterns and identify other potential terrorists.
Which has now led to another "innovation" of sorts, as one could politely call Judge Anna Diggs Taylor's opinion. Any wiretapping or surveillance program raises some constitutional issues, and the passage in 1978 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act has certainly muddied the water, but Judge Taylor's ruling makes a hash of no fewer than two constitutional amendments in addition to FISA. Between the muddled historical analogies, the uncritical regurgitation of various ACLU claims, and the grandiloquent constitutional pronouncements, this ruling is something to behold indeed.
(Excerpt) Read more at nysun.com ...
I'm about ready to give in and let the liberal infection run it's course. It may be the only way to kill it off.
People, we are in big trouble if this sets the base and direction. Hopefully, the NSA will ignore this and move along.
By the way, to those libs or ACLU supporters, my challenge still stands. I'll denounce my republican status and vote democrat if any of you can show me one single case where an innocent person was railroaded or unjustly made to suffer because of any of these so-called "illegal" wiretaps.
Well?
WELL ?
It is hard to believe any president (short of Carter) would actually pay attention to this. Even Clinton wouldn't listen to this. "Executive Order, law of the land. Pretty cool."
Clinton didn't care much about foreign intelligence because he thought we were untouchable, but he wouldn't cripple his political intel-gathering capabilities. He also wouldn't want his voters co-opted by a security issue.
Leftism gone wild. This is what happens when leftists get into power. They would like to see the USA destroyed and most Americans don't try to stop them.
...I'll denounce my republican status and vote democrat if any of you can show me one single case where an innocent person was railroaded or unjustly made to suffer because of any of these so-called "illegal" wiretaps.
Well?
WELL ?
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.
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Don't hold your breath.
Here's why, it's us versus them, need you funkyzero...
"It is disappointing that a judge would take it upon herself to disarm America during a time of war," Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement.
West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the decision shows the executive branch needs more external reviews.
"The administration is wrongly convinced that it can run the country without Congress or oversight. This is their tragic failure, and the courts understand it," Rockefeller said. "The nation's security is serious business - and particularly during such a dangerous time - it requires constant oversight, input and understanding from the Congress, the courts, and the American people."
Both Hoekstra and Rockefeller have been briefed extensively on the program's details.
Judge to "unnamed third party": "Our guys are losing; we've got to stop the Infidels somehow!"
< /sarcasm >
The sad fact is now obvious...this country, with its communication and education infrastructure awash in leftist narcolepsy, cannot wage an unrestrained war without the warring Administration being Democrat...does anyone believe that the current critics of the WOT would utter one phrase of protest if say, President Gore or President Clinton (either of them) had involved us in the selfsame engagement...
Hold not thy breath : )
The sad fact is now obvious...this country, with its communication and education infrastructure awash in leftist narcolepsy, cannot wage an unrestrained war without the warring Administration being Democrat...does anyone believe that the current critics of the WOT would utter one phrase of protest if say, President Gore or President Clinton (either of them) had involved us in the selfsame engagement...
..
.
Absolutely bang on the money !
A lovely couple, at least as cute as Hillary and Suha.
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